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Tuesday: Runner disqualified for receiving aid…

I’m not ready to give you a full review yet because I’ve only put 12 miles on them but I will tell you that so far, I’m loving them.

And let’s just take a moment to admire the beauty that is the new PureFlow 5, shall we?

Gorgeous! Just gorgeous!

Notice that I’m wearing running tights, yeah, it’s cold here. Really cold. This morning was around 45 degrees when I left. I actually wore my running gloves for the first time today and I was so glad that I did. I forgot them yesterday and it took hours for my fingers to thaw.

But I don’t really mind the cold, for running purposes, it’s pretty nice but these guys have mixed feelings about it:

Wanna snuggle? I’m warm.

Is this the ONLY sun spot in the whole damn house?

Did you see the article about Mandy West, the runner who was disqualified from the Louisiana marathon?

You can click here to read the full article but apparently she was disqualified for receiving course aid, which wasn’t permitted. According to race officials someone on a bicycle was giving the runner fuel and liquids along the course but that person was not affiliated with the race.

Since the race director sent out several notices about the aid stations available and warned runners that anyone accepting aid from sources not affiliate with the marathon would be disqualified, that’s exactly what happened.

The race officials also stated that Ms. West was warned more than once while on the course that she could be disqualified for accepting aid from anyone not affiliated with the race.

I have to be honest and say that it does make me a little suspicious because if someone were to warn me that what I was doing could get me disqualified and I was in first place, I would stop what I was doing in order to NOT get disqualified, (but I don’t think I have to worry about that since I don’t run a 2:45ish marathon.)

What do you think, should she have been disqualified?Have you tried the any of the new Brooks shoes that came out recently?

12 thoughts on “Tuesday: Runner disqualified for receiving aid…”

What is wrong with these people? Do they think that just because they’re considered “elite” that the rules don’t apply to them? Cheating has become so prevalent in this sport and it’s so sad it’s come to this. Anything for the almighty dollar, right?

Well – on the bright side her unofficial time was still to slow to actually qualify..

But – rules are rules – it is also illegal to have a “pacer” when attempting for the trials. And in this case she was WARNED on three separate occasions by the bikes that follow the leaders.
Another reason given is that they don’t allow “outside bikes” on the track – imagine if each of the top 10 runners had an “assistant” on a bike riding around the track – it would be chaos..

And a noteworthy quote from the race director:
“Dziuba added that West’s intentions were not harmful; most elite runners prefer to adhere to specific products and nutrition they used in training. He said it was made clear, though, that if runners wanted to have their own products, they would have to carry it themselves.”

So:
– She was informed of the “no assistance” rule in writing five times before the race
– She was warned three times by the lead bikers during the race – and lied to them saying that “She has spoken to the race director, and he was OK with it”
– There were PLENTY of (well-stocked) aid stations (17 over 26 miles)

Perhaps it would have been acceptable if her “assistant” had waited at the aid-stations with her “special-needs-nutrition” – even if that was technically slightly breaking the rules – but the way she did it was just not OK.

I 100% agree with you and in my opinion I think the race directors decision was based on her ‘flagrant disregard’ because let’s face it, if you’re part of the USATF you know the rules and they were sent to her well in advance. Plus she was ‘reminded’ of those rules more than once on the course and that’s the perfect definition of flagrant. What puzzles me is why? If you’re trying to qualify for the Olympic trials I’d think you would want to do everything in your power NOT to get DQ’d but I guess she doesn’t think the same way as I do. She is fast, I’ll give her that, but I think she might be lacking some integrity.

It is part of her job to follow the rules of the USATF so I think that her disqualification is valid. I think it is a little ridiculous though that they can’t get fuel/water from a friend/trainer/coach while on the course. I am curious as to what the whole point of that rule is? To keep excess people off the course? To prevent the runners from getting better supplies? WHY IS THIS A RULE?? What if the runner is allergic certain ingredients and what they have on the course containers said ingredient? Then what? She broke the rules so she is DQed but its a stupid rule in my opinion!

I’m not sure why they have the rule but I surmise it’s so they can regulate what people are using for fueling and make sure no one is using anything that would give them an unfair advantage. Although, I have no idea how they would do that but rules are rules.

I think she should have been DQed. The US track and field rules say that anyone accepting prize money or going for a trials qualifying time cannot receive outside aid. It’s a pretty known rule for the athletes around that time. The fact that she was warned several times and honestly, she should have known makes me completely on the race directors side.

It would suck. That being said, if you know disqualification is possible then you would have to be an idiot or something worse to disobey and she definitely disobeyed. Sucks for her. She’s fast too. What a shame!